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Sited on what was the British settlement of Black River, PALACIOS lies just west of one of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve's three coastal lagoons, Laguna Ibans. Served by regular flights to and from La Ceiba, this is frequently the starting point for organized trips to the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve and a logical place for independent travellers to set out from. Adequate rooms (both US$5-10) can be had in the hotel run by local whizzkid Don Felix Marmol, who is also the Islena agent, or the Jungle Lodge by the airstrip, where the rooms are a little better. Dotted along the Caribbean shoreline around Palacios is a cluster of interesting Garifuna villages, including Batalla , just to the west of town across the Palacios lagoon, and Plaplaya , about 8km to the east, where a turtle project has been established. Highly endangered giant leatherbacks, the largest species in the world (reaching up to 3m in length and 900kg in weight), nest in the beaches around the village between April and June. There's a resident peace corp worker stationed here to oversee the project, and volunteers are welcome. Raista , the next coastal settlement, three hours' walk from Plaplaya, is a friendly Miskito village and also the base for a new butterfly farm (daily 8am-5pm; US$2.50, including tour), which exports exotic specimens to other parks in Honduras and North America. There's simple accommodation here (up to US$5) and the manager's wife cooks tasty, inexpensive meals. There are more rooms for rent in Belen , right next door to Raista on the outer edge of Laguna Ibans, and in Barra Platano , a two-hour walk east from Belen along the beach. Boats to the Rio Platano reserve and Las Marias can be hired in any of these villages, or from Palacios. Thirty kilometres east along the coast from Palacios, on the southeastern edge of the Laguna de Brus, is the friendly Miskito town of BRUS LAGUNA . A basic hospedaje here serves for the relatively few visitors who make it this far. Regular flights connect the town with La Ceiba, and guides and boats can be hired for multi-day trips, travelling up the Rio Sigre (or Sikre) into the southern reaches of the Rio Platano reserve. A little under 40km inland from Brus Laguna as the crow flies is the Miskito village of AHUAS , scattered across the savanna. The village is only a kilometre from the Rio Patuca, which forms the border of the Rio Platano reserve, and narrow cargo boats take passengers on the four-hour trip upriver to Barra Patuca on the coast. Rooms can be found by asking around near the airstrip.
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